


Love Language

by StarfallGalaxy



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Don't Even Know, M/M, References to Depression, Self-Harm, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2020-12-09 02:14:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20987141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarfallGalaxy/pseuds/StarfallGalaxy
Summary: Dib didn’t do the things humans liked to do with mates according to Zim’s research on such rituals, that or Dib was just as clueless as Zim in these scenarios...A/N: Depression/triggers! And hinting (No graphic depictions!).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Megxolotl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megxolotl/gifts).

> A/N: Depression/triggers! And hinting (No graphic depictions!).
> 
> Send me suggestions in comments and I might make more.

Having a mate was a very confusing endeavor, especially when the two of you were two different species. Or were rivals before this. Or who both had anxiety attacks, nightmares and frequent flashes of anger and hurt due to past scars you were too scared to talk about.

Or, as Zim was finding out, if you were mated to one Dib Membrane.

Dib didn’t do the things humans liked to do with mates according to Zim’s research on such rituals, that or Dib was just as clueless as Zim in these scenarios...

Dib was always touching. He liked to touch. And it wasn’t ever for personal gain but because he seemed to like the feeling of Zim’s skin. Zim would lie on the couch with him, finding his claws easily stripped of his gloves before they were pressed against his human’s ichy, squishy cheeks. Sometimes, Zim would look at his claws in confusion, not used to having them naked, out in the open. 

Certainly not used to feeling warm flesh against their sensitive skin or a large, calloused hand pressed over their tiny selves. Yet he felt as if they were intrusive the more he wore them, taking them off at night to run his palms over his own arms, his face, against each other, trying to feel whatever Dib felt in those moments when he would touch the smooth flesh of Zim. Zim shivered when he realized that that was the first time he had ever touched his own face without his gloves, pulling them on and sitting on his claws for the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Dib was always listening to horrid Earth music. He would force Zim to listen to it, too, turning it up to almost unbearable levels until it hurt enough that Zim screamed with his claws clamped over his sensitive lekku. 

After that, Dib didn’t turn his music on anymore or, if he did, it would be when Zim was in the lab, losing himself not in the work any more, but in the melodies that he was becoming very interested in. He especially liked the one that sounded very marchy (“And I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more, Just to be the man-”). Yet whenever he would come up, Dib would quickly shut it off, deflecting Zim’s inquiries about what he was listening to (“Nothing.”). Then he would cough out some excuse, dashing away from Zim’s questioning stare. 

After Dib had fallen asleep some night, Zim snuck downstairs with his stolen CDs, shoving them all in the CD player thingy one after another until Computer had played all the songs and had told him all the singers, the years, the bands, everything while Zim found himself swaying hypnotically to the music, his lekku perked up high. His new favorite was from some silly sounding band name that sounded like (“Earth angel, earth angel...will you be mine? My darling dear, love you all the time. I’m just a fool. A fool in love-”) how Dib felt. 

As nonsensical as it was…


	3. Chapter 3

Dib liked to talk about stupid things, impossible things. Things that Zim guessed had been Dib’s main goal before the Irken had shown up. Ghosts, fairies, witches, werewolves, vampires, sasquatch...all of these creatures that were lesser than Zim, obviously, but seemed to be Dib’s life. Dib even still went out to hunt this stuff, Zim coming along to watch in wonder as his idiotic mate rambled for hours about one damn thing until the sky darkened. Heck, they even managed to catch a few things to give to DB. 

And it wasn’t until he actually heard Dib talking to someone about him that the Irken knew just how long Dib could ramble for. He was originally planning to barge into Dib’s room to demand entertainment until his lekku caught the sound of a breathy, excited Dib chattering away to someone. And that was going to be an issue until Zim heard specifically heard the words ‘Zim’ and ‘pretty’   
and ‘sweet’ all in the same sentence at the same time. So he kinda peeked in really fast to see Dib chatting away to someone (Zim could not see who) and pacing. So Zim sort of clung to the door the   
entire night, just listening to the sounds of Dib gasping for breath as he went on a long, unending rant starting with the color of Zim’s eyes and ending with concern over where he was before he actually walked in, a slightly darker green than usual, spotting a tiny toy alien that looked suspiciously similar to himself that they needed to have a talk about but never really got around to.


	4. Chapter 4

Dib was very mopey when he first decided to move in with Zim. 

He didn’t move around a lot, sometimes not getting up from the couch at all, despite Zim calling him ‘lazy’. He didn’t even react to it, just sighed. He used to have purple eyelids, like bruises, with a downtrodden expression almost all the time. Zim was livid over all of the sighing, the mysterious cuts that would find themselves on the boy’s skin that Zim certainly hadn’t made, the constant snapping or the lack of eating. What could possibly be wrong with his human?

It wasn’t until he had caught Dib in the bathroom with a certain metal object hovering over his wrists before he knew how serious it was, how much he felt helpless or how much he could wonder what he was doing wrong. He learnt the existence of pills, becoming angry when he first thought that the pills were because he couldn’t make Dib feel happy by himself. That he had failed as a mate. That he was defec- But they made his human better, less droopy but always still wanting attention, just like the boy always had. Just like he remembered before all of this ‘depress’ stuff. And he had become, suddenly, the only one Dib would take the pills for. And the one to remind him of the pills. 

So some nights, Zim would kiss the bottle next to the bed for giving him his human back, even though he felt stupid doing so.


	5. Chapter 5

Dib liked to say ‘I love you’. He said it all of the time lately. Whether going to bed (“I love you.”) or waking up (“Good morning! I love you!”) or during heated kisses on the couch (“I love you…”) or messy, ‘I-have-to-go-now’ pecks (“Bye! Love you, Spaceboy!”). There were so many different variations, so many tones and contexts that Zim couldn’t keep up. 

Every time Dib would say it, it would just hang there, lingering around Zim to echo in his lekku along with the several years of ‘Zim!’ or ‘Spaceboy!’ that floated around him. ‘Zim!’ or ‘Spaceboy!’ were usually countered with an insult or something. So it was only logical that Zim was expected to reciprocate something, right? So he practiced in front of the mirror, every time Dib went to work but it always came out too hushed or too loud or too quick. Too eager, not eager enough, always different but never the way he wanted to say it. He resolved to keep practicing until he was good enough, always whispering it low enough for Dib to be oblivious after every time, waiting until Zim was good enough to say it. Finally, he decided he had found the perfect moment, under the stars on a picnic blanket, Dib over him ready to lean down and looking like was either ready to maim or ravish him. Then it got stuck. He tried again, a low pitched whine coming out. Dib had gold eyes, leaning over him, being really tall, scary… (“Es’ther sabann ihre.”) 

Needless to say, Zim locked himself into their room from embarrassment and shame, only coaxed out after screaming confessions through a door("You don't have to-" "BUT ZIM WANTS TO! He wants to tell Dib he loves him but it's too hard! You humans have so many ways of saying one thing and then it doesn't feel right when it say any of them and it just..."), hugs and promises of fundip and a reassurance that, yes, during his nervous breakdown he had, in fact, said all he wanted to say. And that is all he needed to do to win over Dib’s affections… 

Suddenly it became a lot easier to say after that.


	6. Chapter 6

Dib was taller than the Tallests. He towered over Zim, at least six feet four, with Zim being only three and a half feet tall. 

They looked absolutely ridiculous together sometimes, with Zim perched on top of Dib’s shoulders looking proud at his newly acquired height. 

Back on Irk, they wouldn’t even be allowed together, Zim knew. Yes, these high heels were scary-high, yes, Zim’s feet were screaming, and yes, yes, yes… this would mean he would be Tall enough for his mate. He felt a slight stab of contentment along with pride when he walked out in his light teal dress, the black heels shiny as he floated in the room, relishing the awed look Dib had. 

Then he tripped and fell, feeling warm arms catch him before whisking him to the nearest chair. He watched with bated breath as Dib mumbled to himself about how he was an idiot and took Zim’s heels off of him slowly, kissing the three little claws on each foot.

Needless to say, their date went smoothly with new white flats, though Zim did later on blame Dib’s tree-like height for the ache between his legs and inability to walk the next morning.


	7. Chapter 7

Dib trying to flirt was awkward, so the first time they had dating was almost such a travesty that it was a wonder they tried it again later. 

It was technically their second date, with prom having been their first one but that had not gone smoothly at all. The only highlight was that it had ended in desperate, needy lip smushes that Zim-for some reason-wanted more of them. So there they were, Zim having a large black sweater on that sparkled and feeling a bit miffed that Dib wouldn’t stop looking for that stupid Cupacabra (though it was odd that every single time Zim wasn’t looking, walking along with Dib in the woods, would be when the human would trip or crash into a tree or something even though the flashlight was clearly lighting the way if you looked forward…) Then all of a sudden, they stopped, with Dib asking a very odd question (“Zim, um...let’s say that if s-someone does something bad to themselves, if I did something bad to myself...uh...w-would you...still like me?”) before they were attacked by a hungry Cupacabra, Dib running with Zim cradled to his chest before both of them ended up in the lake, Dib freaking out that Zim had gotten wet and was smoking (Zim had forgotten his paste in his nervousness). 

So they ended up in Dib’s room, both of them wet and cold and trembling. Then Zim had tried to change, hearing a yelp from Dib as he lifted his sweater over his head to reveal that Irkens 1) wore no undergarments and 2) Dib was totally looking from the brief glance back Zim got, though he couldn’t tell why Dib was so flustered or why when they heard footsteps Dib jumped on his naked form to hide him. Like, what had made Dib think that was a good idea? So, they had an awkward conversation with Gaz, who had walked in confused at the noise, (“Get a room you two.” “We’re already in my room!” “...well, I’ll leave you to it then.” “THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”) and Zim spent the rest of the evening sitting in a flushed Dib’s bed with a certain trenchcoat and blue shirt to hide him, coaxing Dib under the blankets to sleep until he forgot this fiasco ever happened.

It was Zim’s favorite story to tell to anyone who would listen.


	8. Winter

Zim was never, ever moving from his spot on the couch ever again. Not as long as he was curled up this way with cookies, blankets, some stupid movie, GIR, Minimoose, hot cocoa and Dib all on the same couch together. It was snowing outside, the weather having gotten so bad that they were literally stuck in this house until the storm stopped. Which was fine by them because they had the whole collection of Oddzilla to watch. 

Right now, however, Dib was sound asleep draped over Zim, his lanky body almost too long for the couch. The stupid human had somehow managed to become a six foot tall monstrosity of craziness and acne these past years which Zim also didn’t mind, because that meant that Dib was now the perfect seat durning social events the human's family forced them to go to.

Zim himself had gone through a few changes, most of them involving outward appearances. Such as the new sweaters that Dib kept buying him. Most of them with stupid stuff on them but the current one was so ugly that Zim just HAD to wear it. Besides, he was rewarded with extra marshmallows in his cocoa tonight so it was worth it. 

And Dib had maybe told him he was cute, which might have been also worth it.

Oh, and he had gotten Dib to eat a whole meal. Not pickings, not half but a whole meal. Which had been hard the past few days since the depression medication. Dib kept saying that it didn’t work but Zim knew it was working. The human was just being mopey, afraid to get better because that meant everyone was right and Dib certainly didn’t like that.

But then the human had to turn around and hurt himself doing mundane, human things. Like buying gifts (he got trampled by others), setting up lights (he hammered his thumb), making cocoa (he burnt himself), and trying to get a kiss under the mistletoe stuff he kept waving around (he hit his head off the doorframe).

Zim smiled. Stupid, silly Dib.

So Zim yawned, curling even further into Dib. Yeah, staying here sounded like a good plan.


End file.
